The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1887-06-24
lone Day.


COMMENCEMENT EXERCISES, JUNE 23.
I. am gazing into the future as on pic
ture. see a familiar city grown grand
and beautiful in few years. l see famil-
lar faces passing to and fro. AS / look
again, the picture changes. / see the SUI
burbs, almost the country of the same city
Out of all the beautiful surroundings one
large and imposing edifice attracts my at
tention. seem drawn 10 enter its wide
open gateway l pass up its well kept ave.
nue.. The grounds are like an artists
dream. hear the exquisite murmur of
the dropping water of fountains and see
them sparkling in the distance.
Now pass up the wide stone steps into
a spacious hall. see numerous doors and
siaircasos leading in different dire ctions.
l approach the door at my left, extend my
hand to the knob. but am confronted by a
pl,icard bearing the expressive word EN-
gagged" in gilded letters. Hark from be.
hind the door come these words in plain
tive accents.
"Alack, what heineous sin Is 1t In me
To be ashamed to be my fathers child
But though am daughter to his blood,
am not to his manner. o, Lorenzo,
II thou keep promise, shall end this strife.
Become Christian and thy loving wife,"
All! surely / know that voice, those
words. Suddenly l see her again, our
r De Ea
is great actress now; but still she clngs
fondly to the times when she was Jessica
in the Merchant of Venice: and occasion.
ally she iehearses the old part here in her
own sanctum. AS The picture fades slowly
away from my reluctant gaze, these words
are borne to my ears.
al am sorry thou wilt leave my father thus;
Our house is hell, and thou merry devil,
Did'st rob II of some taste of tediousness."
Now, see the interior of another room.
The spacious baok-shelves, secretaries,
loose papers. and manuscripts, denote it
plainly to be an Office. AT large table
sits lady busily engaged in writing.
watch her curiously. recognize the quick
nervous motions, the sudden uplifting of
the head, as belonging to May. At her
right hand lies bundle of papers which
look like reports. On a file at her left is a
slip of paper on which these words are
written
REPORT of class of 81 for weeks end
ing, June LIST, '97. Accepted" Allowing
my gaze to roam idly about the room il
comes in contact with these words in
scribed above her chair:
General Superintcndants Office.
Hours from Sill A. M.
Again the picture changes. l view q
large, we'll regulated farm. In the distance
glimpses of the same house may be caught
through the trees. The barn, chicken.
houses, granaries, yards orchards, and all,
are models of convenience and beauty.
The waving fields of grain, the thrifty and
promising cornfields, the heavily laden
fruit trees, testify to the truthfulness of the
theory of scientific farming. There, be.
meath the shade of wide-spreading chest.
nut, stands the farmer, pencil and book in
hand. know at a glance it is Leslie. He
/ has fully exemplified the fact that careful,
thorough scientific study makes agricultu
| raj pursuits success and not drudgery.
The picture ever changing brings the
house into view again. see an apartment
that seems more or less to jut out from
the house. 1t is an octagon chamber n
most uncomfortable description; but Il
some artistic in the last degree--and to is
mistress and the class. simply perfection
1T is q tumble of all ages, a makeup Of
Objectionable bits from all centuries" Al
one side is massive fire CRATE, filed with
Yule logs. The windows are mere Sits in
the walls, cut at studiously uneven dis
tances, filed with q substance which in
the Middle Ages might have been called
glass. The furniture is of hardest woods
of most uncomfortable forms. =, The tables
and chairs are marvefs of ugliness and in
utility The floor is shining with pur,
white sand-carpets and rugs having palet
in the opinion of It's owner. A strictly
gothic bookcase, filled with cumbrous vol
umes which are indeed treasures of ancien
lore, nearly covers one wall. This is t.
our other Lydia, versed in Latin, Greek
and all the other ancient languages, tho
apple of her eye. In everything that bears
the impression of age and ugliness she car
flnd beauty which others fail to recog
nize. But I remember she was ever char
table and always saw the sunshine where
others saw only tho shadow. Fr,.t +.
Again see large square room, or rath